Sunday, 13 February 2005

Meconopsis pratii - Photos In The Wild

Colour at it's best - similar to good forms grown in Scottish gardens. Napa Hai, Yunnan. 3,250 m. Harry Jans.

Napa Hai, Yunnan. Harry Jans.

Napa Hai, Yunnan. Many of this species show varying amounts of mauve both in the wild and in cultivation. Probably nothing to do with the soil. Harry Jans.

Flower raceme typical of M. prattii from Qinghai. Ron McBeath.

Seed sown January of wild seed collected by V. Holubec in Yunnan and Sichuan - photographed in late June. The exact taxonomy will have to await flowering but this image does show the diversity of closely related taxa that differ in response to cultivation.

A beautifully proportioned plant at Napa Hai, Yunnan in 2009 photographed by Hilary Birks. This is similar to the very best we grow in Scotland.

Another Napa Hai image from 2009 by Hilary Birks. This site is a sort of semi natural botanic garden and there may have been plant introductions. These large glaucous leaves are very similar to M. rudis but without the characteristic purple spots. This group of closely related species might be much better as variations on the species M. horridula into which Taylor lumped all these variations in 1934.